As spring is approaching, I am trying to find books that will help my boys (5 & 2) appreciate the changes of the seasons. We have a great library system and last week I checked out The Golden Egg and Ollie's Ski Trip. Any other suggestions?

Also, what are some of your favorite activities / crafts to transition into spring?

Old Bear by Kevin Henkes is a great book for young children learning the transition of seasons. Beautiful illustrations! We also like Ollie's Skip Trip. Not sure of others right now. Probably need to get to the library.

We're still in the thick of winter here, though you can sense we're moving out of it, so I'm not really into "spring" mode yet. The two books Boat Baby mentioned are some of our favorites along with The Butterfly Children and The Root Children. I have a book about making flower children from felt, so we may attempt that, or not. I also want to make a tissue paper/pipe cleaner butterfly mobile. And, hopefully, our flower bulbs we planted in Oct. will bloom. We also plant shamrocks for St. Patrick's Day, dye Easter eggs, and do a big Mardi Gras/Ash Wednesday/Lenten thing.

Allison: a little bit Waldorf, a little bit Medievalish, and always"MOMMMMYYYY!" to sweet Cecily since 12.22.05

Great list, LuxPerpetua! A few others that haven't been mentioned yet:

Fourteen forest mice and the spring meadow picnic

The empty pot

The carrot seed

Mushroom in the rain

Make way for ducklings

Chickens Aren't the Only Ones

An egg is quiet

Country bunny and the little golden shoes

Roots, shoots, buckets and boots

And for when the strawberries get ripe in May:

The little mouse, the red ripe strawberry, and the big hungry bear -

The first strawberries : a Cherokee story

Flicka, Ricka, Dicka and the Strawberries

Jamberry

We've been talking non-stop about our baby chicks that will be here in a few weeks, planning our garden by making a collage from an old seed catalog, getting the garden ready to plant, and splashing in puddles with our new-to-us rain boots. Last year on the equinox, we cooked some spinach, beets, and frozen blueberries and dyed some eggs in each pot after they were done cooking. Then we had a grand picnic outside among the daffodils... we deviled the edible dyed eggs outside, and had deviled eggs, a spinach/beet dish, blueberry-something dessert, fresh creasy greens, and hot cross buns. Yummy fun!